Join my email list and get FREE ACCESS to the MSM Freebie Library, including my top printables & eBooks.

First Name *Email *

April 16, 2012 | Crystal Paine

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #11

Missed some of the first assignments? See the links at the bottom of this post for Assignments 1-10.

It’s Monday and that means we’re back to cleaning and organizing our homes again. And boy does our home need some cleaning and organizing!

It was a bit of a crazy weekend around here — especially with all the stormy weather and tornadoes. In light of the tornado damage and destruction others experienced this weekend, I can hardly complain about a messy house.

Day 11 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and make a list of weekly goals. I’ll post my goals along with a link-up around 1 p.m. ET this afternoon.

::Set the timer for 15 minutes and quickly pick up your house and put things back into order after the weekend. If your house looks like mine, you might need to spend longer than 15 minutes. 🙂

::Clean out your silverware drawer. Remove all items, vacuum out the crumbs with your vacuum’s attachment, wipe down the drawer with a damp cloth, get rid of anything you don’t need or no longer use, and then put everything you’re keeping back into the drawer in an organized manner.

::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.

Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.

At 9 p.m. ET tonight, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too. Here’s to our productivity today!

I was JUST thinking I needed to tackle that drawer! You’re so on top of things! 😉
I just joined y’all on this organizing journey a couple of days ago. Once we get through the 4 weeks, will you start the process over (since I know it’s never-ending)? (Meaning, will you continually post on your blog?) Or do I need to go back on my own to complete them after we are finished?

Sounds good…. and pretty quick! I already threw 3 things out this morning before I left for work. I’ve been raving about this challenge to all my friends and family, and pretty much anyone who will listen!:)

Same at my house. It will be full of crumbs again in just a few days and we are empty nesters and I rarely cook anything above that drawer. Falls into the same mystery as the disappearing socks thing 🙂

sliverware draw! O boy! always interesting crumbs found in there! I actually woke up to a tidy house this morning. My husband was kind enough to pick up and sweep up after I went to bed last night. So I am thinking instead of 15 minutes of attacking the whole house I will focus on our master bedroom some more.

I hear ya! I almost joked about it looking like a tornado hit our house and then decided that wasn’t very funny. Huddling in the basement storage room sure helped my resolved to purge (AGAIN)….and helped us all realize how it can all be gone in an instant and is just STUFF.

YEA!! Did this one on a whim last week – got a utensil out and realized it needed cleaning and organizing so just did it then! Plus, found some baby feeding items we no longer need in the drawer and sold them on ebay over the weekend and made $10!

I still have all the baby/toddler silverware and my youngest is 21. I kept them for hospitality purposes when we had guests with young ones and now my grandchildren use them. Some of mine go back to my grandmother and I would never part with them.

I am glad cleaning the silverware drawer was on the list today, since it was on my weekly goal list 🙂 Doing a quick clean do straighten up is something I try and do a few times a day…helps keep up on the mess so at the end of the day there isn’t as much to do…with toddlers around this isn’t always easy 🙂
I was surprised at how many crumbs were in my drawer too!!! I didn’t realize how much it needed a good cleaning…!

Thank you so much for starting this process for us, Crystal~! I finally joined in today and it only took me 10 minutes to clean and reorganize our drawer. I think cleaning out the junk drawer should be on this list if it’s not. We all have one and it’s the one embarrassing part of my kitchen….I cringe whenever someone else opens it to find a pencil or tape. My pantry is clean, fridge is clean and car is clean so I feel great starting with you at this point. Thanks again for your blog, although I’ve never replied here, visiting you is something I look forward to each day.

Oh, the silverware drawer.. we moved into our apartment in August, I am curious to see how bad it is!

I am working full time as a high school Spanish teacher and have been trying to follow along with your posts! It is very inspiring to get my home cleaned up! (I have it easy–it’s just me and my husband, no kids yet!)

I was gone most of Saturday and came home to find out that my husband had cleaned the whole apartment and had cleaned out the fridge!!! That was one of the things I was behind on, and he didn’t even know! 🙂 yay!

I work full time and have a hard time keeping up with your cleaning schedule. I did manage to clean both of my freezers this weekend (the one in the garage had to be completely defrosted. Ick!) Bonus, I found food in the back that I had forgot about.

Also, gave away one boy’s bike, one pair of boy’s shoes, a Spiderman alarm clock, and 25 kids books. Hopfully, that catches me up on the 7 items per day.

I’m going to try to do the silverware drawer tonight. Cleaning the refrigerator is scheduled for this weekend.

I’m not doing this particular system, but I have been purging during the last month. I have two friends who are needing money for good causes (an overseas adoption and a mission trip) so they both had yard sales to raise money and we were blessed to give them our stuff. Among other random things, we came up with over 450 pieces of clothing to give away. Is that ridiculous or what?! Yes, we have six kids, but good grief, stuff adds up so fast. It feels so good to purge the extra stuff out of our home. 🙂

I don’t think I could actually vaccuum my drawers! The thought of putting something that has been on the floor next to things we eat with. . . . But maybe I’m just a little crazy. I think I will use a damp paper towel instead.